Ingress

Niantic has officially announced the global release of Ingress: The Animation on Netflix, which is clearly themed around the developer's hit augmented reality game Ingress Prime. We first learned about the CG-animated series back in July of 2018, and that the show had a planned launch for October of that year. Well, that loose release date came and went, so if you had been wondering when the show would actually arrive, today's the day.

Back in December of 2017 we learned that Niantic would be rebooting its aging augmented reality mobile game Ingress into something called Ingress Prime. After a lot of fan feedback and a delayed release, Ingress Prime is finally heading out to users. This major update basically replaces the old game and attempts to deliver plenty of quality-of-life upgrades and a flashy new UI. Sadly, it would seem that these changes also introduce some new problems, and the player base isn't very pleased.

Before it became world-famous for Pokemon Go, Niantic's only mobile game was Ingress. It was released in 2012, and the primary goal is to take control of portals located next to landmarks in the real world. Even though Ingress never achieved the massive level of popularity that Pokemon Go hit at its peak, the game still has a large amount of active players.

Niantic might be most well-known now for Pokémon Go, but that title was actually the company's sophomore entry into the world of AR games. Its first was a sci-fi effort called Ingress, and it came out all the way back in 2012. Ingress never quite reached the popularity of its Pokémon-based successor, but there is still a passionate community surrounding it. Yesterday Niantic announced a "reboot" coming in 2018 for the title, to be called Ingress Prime.

Google's Niantic Labs is perhaps best known as the developer of the popular augmented reality game Ingress (it also makes the exploration app Field Trip). In the wake of the Alphabet announcement, Niantic is leaving Google behind, but not in the way you think. Google is spinning off the developer completely, turning it into an independent company.

You know what day it is. Yes, it's March 31st, and that means the April Fools onslaught has commenced... because what's better than one day when the internet becomes an annoying cacophony of fake news? Two of them, apparently. In fairness, Google's pranks are usually less annoying than they are fun little games. Case in point, Pac-Man is invading Maps and Ingress.

But, according to a report from The Information, Google isn't content to just have a cult hit of a game on its hands. Google has partnered with Sean Daniel Co. to make a television show based on the game, with producers "in talks with candidates to serve as its showrunner." This information comes from "two people who have been involved in the discussions."

Despite this somewhat surprising rumor, The Info is sure to note that this "doesn't appear to reflect a broader move into film or TV production by Google," and that Google "isn't particularly interested in cashing in on Ingress' worldwide audience, instead viewing the TV show as a deeper extension into the game's hybrid reality-fictional world and a way to provide a more intimate connection with its players."

Indeed, the hybrid nature of the game is one of the facets that propelled it to popularity as users choose sides and vie for portals at real-world physical locations, sometimes cooperating across factions to produce "faction art" like this dragon in Norwich.

If you've managed to stick with Ingress for a year or two now, then maybe you should show others just how committed you are. There's no need for anything extravagant. Those of you who happen to own an Android Wear device can just head over to the Play Store and give this free Ingress-integrated watchface a download. Then when people see it, they will be, well, just as confused as they were when they saw you hanging out by that old, abandoned record store last weekend.